This section is intended to provide a background or context to the invention that is recited in the claims. The description herein may include concepts that could be pursued, but are not necessarily ones that have been previously conceived or pursued. Therefore, unless otherwise indicated herein, what is described in this section is not prior art to the description and claims in this application and is not admitted to be prior art by inclusion in this section.
Peer-to-peer (P2P) is emerging as a potentially disruptive technology for content distribution to mobile devices over the Internet. It provides an alternative solution to the traditional client-server based approach by reducing the need for centralized servers. Next to the already well-known P2P file sharing, more recently real-time P2P streaming is gaining popularity. Real-time P2P streaming has a number of advantages that enable new applications and business models for the end-user, as well as other players in the value chain. P2P streaming technology, for instance, allows an end-user of a mobile device to broadcast its own content throughout the Internet. This task may be accomplished in real-time without the need for special infrastructure since the user's device, together with all other peers in the network, collectively form the infrastructure. Furthermore, unlike existing content distribution technologies, such as YouTube, that still require dedicated servers, servers may no longer be required in P2P streaming networks since every peer can serve data to any other peers.
These distributed characteristics make real-time P2P streaming an inherently scalable technology, allowing the distribution of an unprecedented number of content from content providers that include the end-users. Furthermore real-time P2P streaming has the potential of becoming a disruptive technology in the broadcasting world since every peer in the network can become an independent broadcaster. This is especially true in light of the recent proliferation of user generated content.
Live streaming and Video-on-Demand (VoD) streaming of content are two example applications where P2P streaming may be effectively utilized. With live streaming, a user typically receives an ongoing event, such as a sporting event, from the peers in the P2P network. The user may therefore start watching the live stream after an initial buffering delay. Furthermore, all peers in a live streaming scenario consume the content in substantially the same time frame. With VoD streaming, a user may request a desired video from a catalogue, and after a delay associated with initial buffering of the content, the user may start watching the requested video from the beginning. From a device manufacturing and usage point of view, Live and VoD P2P streaming applications have a number of important benefits. For instance, users can view the selected programs only after a short delay associated with buffering of the content, as opposed to waiting for the entire file to be downloaded. This feature also reduces device memory requirements, and allows memory resources to be allocated to other applications, a feature that is especially beneficial to mobile devices, with relatively small internal memory.
The user experience and the performance of a real-time P2P streaming service is highly dependent on content availability at the source peers. The peers in a P2P streaming environment, however, are not currently capable of efficiently assessing the availability of a desired content at other peers in the P2P streaming network.